No. Freaking. Way.
Cro Magnon has a dream. Of making sun dried tomatoes.
Stop, reverse that.
Cro Magnon has a dream of me making sun dried tomatoes.
The deck out back is loaded with tomato plants. They’re just starting to bear fruit. It’s a beautiful thing. Somewhere along the line, he got this idea that he wanted to make sun dried tomatoes because they’re delicious. So last week, he cuts up some tomatoes places them on a baking sheet and sets them out to dry in the sun. He’s very literal.
The weather is hot and humid. And although it sounds very romantic to dry your tomatoes in the sun. It’s not. Cro Magnon thinks it is. Cro Magnon thinks he is Andrea Bocelli. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pj5Z48G0zs
But he’s lord of the flies.
He brings in his pan of tomatoes. “It’s not going to work,” he says. “Too many flies.”
I’m thinking, duh. And I’m secretly happy, hoping he’ll abandon the idea. But no. He’s going to dehydrate them. And he’s got instructions. For me.
“Now look,” he says, standing in the kitchen in his work shorts and no shirt with one hand on the counter all authoritative. “I’ve got instructions for you. I want you to follow them before you dry those tomatoes.”
“I’m listening,” I say. I decide to humor him. See how far he thinks he can go.
“You have to cut the seeds out,” he says.
Umm, yeah. “Okay,” I say. Has he even seen the inside of a tomato?
“I’ll do it tomorrow,” I lie.
It’s tomorrow
I assemble tomatoes. I carefully wash the dehydrator. I. Am. Ready. To sun dry tomatoes.
No I’m not.
I cut open a tomato. There are seeds everywhere. They must be carefully removed by hand. It’s like de-seeding a concord grape. Mission impossible. I can’t. I won’t.
Cro Magnon has left the building to mow lawns. I make a grated tomato sauce to use up the tomatoes and crush his sun dried dream.
He’s gonna freak when he gets home. So I’m breaking out the opera to soften the blow. This one goes perfect.
When Cro Magnon gets home, he asks what I’ve done with his tomatoes. I don’t look up from my laptop. The sauce is on the stove. “I made sauce,” I say innocently.
“I thought we were going to sun dry them?” He’s heartbroken.
“Do you know about the seeds?” I ask.
“I know how to do it,” he says. “I’ll do it myself”
Mission accomplished.
Crushed it.
Find the recipe here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/grated-tomato-sauce?mbid=social_facebook
Hang On Mom 